Yigal Guetta steps down from the Israeli parliament after being criticised by rabbis and hardliners in the party

Writers

Newsroom

Related Topics

An Israeli lawmaker from the Sephardic Orthodox Shas Party resigned from the Knesset after he was criticised for attending a gay wedding.

Lawmaker Yigal Guetta on Wednesday resigned after coming under fire from several prominent rabbis and party faithful.

At the beginning of the week he confirmed to Army Radio that he had attended his nephew’s same-sex wedding and that he required his entire family to attend.

“My entire family went to the wedding. I usually don’t tell my kids to what events they should go, but this time I told them attendance was mandatory. Beforehand, I told my kids: ‘We’re going to make him happy because he’s my sister’s son and I want him to be happy, but I want you to know that according to the Torah this [wedding] is forbidden and an abomination. I have no leeway on this,” he told Army Radio.

The wedding took place two years ago.

Several prominent Charedi rabbis called on the Shas party to fire Guetta. He refused to apologise for his attendance at the wedding and requiring his family members to attend, and resigned from the Knesset before he was asked to, Haaretz reported, citing unnamed people close to the Shas Party.

“Minister Deri told member of Knesset Guetta that he respects his decision, expressed his appreciation for him and thanked him for his valuable work and for the new and energetic spirit he introduced to Shas,” a letter from Shas party head and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri’s office said.